Legendary sports broadcaster Bruce McAvaney will be inducted into the South Australian Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame at the SA Racing Awards on Saturday night.
McAvaney will be inducted in recognition of his lifelong contribution to South Australian racing as a broadcaster, advocate and passionate supporter of the sport.
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas will attend the ceremony at Morphettville’s Wolf Blass Event Centre and take part in McAvaney’s formal induction.
Born and raised in Adelaide, McAvaney’s broadcasting career began with radio station 5DN, where he called the Oakbank races. His first race call came at a meeting at Mindarie-Halidon in 1977.
He moved into television with ADS-7 the following year, working as a sports presenter and producing the weekly racing program Racetrack.
McAvaney later became Seven News Adelaide’s chief sports presenter before moving to Melbourne in 1983 and developing into one of the most recognisable voices in Australian sport.
His remarkable career has included coverage of every Summer Olympic Games from Los Angeles in 1984 through to Paris in 2024, as well as Commonwealth Games, athletics, tennis and motor racing.
He has also called more than 1000 AFL matches, including 20 Grand Finals.
Despite his success across a host of sports on the national and international stage, racing – and particularly South Australian racing – has remained one of McAvaney’s great passions.
He led Racing.com’s first Adelaide Cup broadcast in 2018 and continues to play an important role in Seven’s coverage of the Adelaide Racing Carnival.
McAvaney has also served for many years on the selection panels for the South Australian Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame and South Australian Champion Racehorse of the Year.
Away from broadcasting, he has been a vocal advocate for greater investment in South Australian racing, publicly supporting increased prizemoney, improved industry funding and other initiatives designed to strengthen the sport in his home state.
McAvaney received the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2002 for his service to sports broadcasting and the community.
His long list of honours also includes induction into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, TV Week Logie Hall of Fame and Australian Football Hall of Fame.
His latest honour brings his career full circle, with McAvaney to be inducted into the South Australian Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame almost 50 years after calling his first race in his home state.
